A Lack of Colour
by electricallyxcharged
Summary: The last thing Zero sees is Yuuki's dead body so he does the only thing he can - he runs away to where he thinks no one will find him. But what happens when someone does? ZeroxOC. My version of VK after chpt 40. Please do leave a review!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note:

This is my first fanfic ever so don't kill me! This is a fanfic with a twist. It's set in Malaysia. Why is it set in Malaysia? Simply because its where I live. Most of the places described here will be the names of real places but not necessarily accurately described and they are used only because I love them. Some bits of Malaysian culture will inevitably find their way in. In this piece, it's a little bit of the language. To help you out:

Bomoh – witchdoctor

Sayang – A term of endearment (synonymous with dear, darling, love)

Tudung – A head-covering that Muslim women wear (in this country, they're called "tudung"s. I'm not sure about other countries)

Some parts may seem kind of weird in the story, particularly Kara's character. She doesn't really act like a normal pureblood, does she? That will be explained in later installments/chapters. If anyone's interested, I promise to post more . Thanks a lot for reading!

* * *

_There was a chocolate sundae, a beautifully delicious chocolate sundae sitting on the table in front of her. She sighed, grabbing the spoon beside the bowl. Steam was wafting seductively off the ice cream where it was slowly being melted by the hot fudge. She dug her spoon into the ice cream and – _

_BOOM_

_Abruptly, there was a loud bang and the ice cream slipped off her spoon. She frowned. Nobody messed with her ice cream. She began shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly, a high-pitched shrieking filled her ears-_

"Wake UP!" shrieked the voice from her dream. It took her a minute to realize it was speaking Malay.

"What?" she asked, blinking and rubbing her eyes. She glanced at her clock and groaned. "It's 5.30 in the morning! Leave me alone…"

"Hurry, get up, you have to get up!" continued the voice. Mrs. Khalid was shaking her again, more vigorously this time. "Kara, you have to wake up!"

"What's wrong? What's happened?" Kara replied, jumping out of bed as she recognized the hint of alarm in the older woman's voice. She caught the jeans Mrs. Khalid threw her and pulled them on over her pyjama shorts. She threw a shirt over her tank top and followed Mrs. Khalid from the room.

"There's not much time," said Mrs. Khalid, straightening her tudung and walking briskly down the stairs to the kitchen. "The people who live near the forest reserve – they think they've seen a ghost."

"A ghost?" Kara repeated flatly, raising and eyebrow. "Don't they have bomohs for this kind of thing?"

"I don't think it's a ghost, sayang," Mrs. Khalid retorted. She threw Kara a peanut butter sandwich and a can of Milo. "I think its one of your kind," she continued in a lower tone.

Kara stopped dead in her tracks. "A level-E? Wouldn't he have attacked them by now?"

"I don't know," Mrs. Khalid frowned. "All they said was that there was a strange, pale man walking around with torn, bloody clothes. It sounded like nobody had gotten close enough to get any proper details."

"They see a man walking around in a forest reserve and they don't bother talking to him?" Kara inquired, her eyebrow shooting up again.

"Kara," sighed Mrs. Khalid. "Tall, unnaturally pale man with bloody torn clothes. Of course they were scared out of their wits."

"Oh," said Kara, understanding fading into sheepishness. "Right."

"Speaking of which," said Mrs. Khalid as she opened the front door. "Shouldn't you get going before something bad happens?"

"Oh, right. Yeah, I'll just…" Kara railed off, blushing furiously as she ran out the door.

She ran to her car, tucking her sandwich into her mouth and stuffing her Milo under her arm. She fished her keys out of her pocket, unlocked her car then jumped in. She downed her Milo in one go then stuffed the empty can into her glove compartment.

She was five minutes from the entrance of the Sungai Buloh Forest Reserve when she realized her hands were almost slipping on the wheel. She slowed down, keeping her grip firm - thankfully, it was still too early for that many cars to be on the roads. _There isn't any reason to be afraid_, she told herself firmly. _He's probably just a Level-E that needs to dealt with. It's easy, you've done this in training. This has nothing to do with your parents… No, nothing at all._

She turned into the parking lot and was relieved to find it empty. That meant no awkward questions about why a normal (albeit pale) looking girl was about to go striding straight into the lair of the "ghost".

Kara studied herself in her rear-view mirror, attempting to rearrange her features into any expression that didn't read "PANIC". No matter what she tried, she couldn't erase the fear and worry in her large, chocolate brown eyes, straight black eye-brows and full lips. Her messy black hair really didn't help either. She pulled it back into a messy ponytail with the scrunchy that rarely left her left wrist. She took one last look at herself, then sighed, giving up on changing her appearance.

She stepped out of the car and took a deep breath. She could smell fear in the air – remnants of last night's crowd. She sneezed. It was so strong that it blocked out the lingering smell of her car's exhaust, even the smell of the forest. The smell seemed stronger to the east, near the caves.

Kara jogged slowly up the trail, the familiar feeling she got from hiking here on weekends was somewhat marred by the smell of human fear that just seemed to get stronger the farther she went. It was so strong that her eyes were beginning to water. How many people had been here? She blink away the tears and jogged faster. She could already see the tops of the short cliffs that held the caves.

Suddenly, she dropped into a crouch. The trail of fear had abruptly ended to be replaced by a completely new smell altogether. But… _it couldn't be_. She took a few quick breaths though her mouth then took a deep breath through her nose. She leaned against and nearby tree, surprise etching itself across her features. _A human?_ She sniffed again, her eyes widening. _A pureblood?_ No, it couldn't be. Purebloods normally tended to be much more romantic with their selection of venues for changing. She sniffed once more. Something just wasn't right. The scent both pureblood AND human but it didn't smell at all like a new Level-D. And somehow… they were both mixed into one, strong, clear, scent. Well, there's only one way to find out…

She pushed away from the tree and continued cautiously towards the mouth of the cave. She stared into the darkness. Despite her heightened senses, she could only see a few feet into the cave. She took a few quiet steps forward then paused. Something was wrong. He had to have heard her by now, his scent was incredibly strong here. The strange pureblood/human scent as well as sweat, dried blood, filth… She wrinkled her nose. Stupidly, she decided she liked his scent. Minus the sweat, dried blood and filth, of course. She shook her head. Stupid.

"Is anyone there?" she called in her first language – English. She walked a few feet forward then grabbed a fallen branch that had somehow made its way into the mouth of the cave and focused her mind on its tip. It burst into flame and glowed brightly white; the flame contained by her mind.

A gasp came from somewhere just behind her, near right wall of the cave and her muscles tensed. She held her breath.

"Leave," said a voice. It sounded deep and gravelly, as thought its owner had a horrible sore throat. Or a throat parched with thirst. It sounded weak.

Kara slowly exhaled, carefully releasing her tensed muscles even as she prepared them for immediate use. She carefully cleared her mind and steeled it for attack.

She slowly turned to face the wall and there he was. The ghost. One of his arms was raised to shield his eyes from the sudden glare of her makeshift torch. His other arm was pressed over his chest, his hand clutching at whatever remained of his torn, bloody, once-white shirt. His legs were tense under his ripped up black jeans. He was gasping and coughing in the unmistakable signs of bloodlust.

"Leave," he repeated hoarsely. "For your own good."

Damn. A sane, potential level-E. She hasn't thought of that one. She could have brought a blood pack with her. She dimmed her white torch to a yellow flame and gasped. The ghost had dropped his arm to reveal dirty, silvery white hair and the most… refined features she has ever laid her eyes on.

"Don't you speak English?" he continued. "Leave. Now." His bright red irises glowed in the dim light. He coughed and gasped, clutching at his chest. It must be taking all of his effort to stay sitting down, let alone to talk.

"You're thirsty," she said, sinking to her knees then pulling aside her ponytail and baring her neck. He didn't look or smell very clean but it was the best she could do.

His eyes glowed brighter as they fixed themselves on the base of her neck. His fangs grew visibly longer, extending past his half-open lips. He leaned towards her, letting her scent fog up his senses, giving in to the bloodlust…

"No," he growled. His grip on his shirt tightened. "Who the hell are you? What do you think you're doing?"

"Kara Rai," she answered. "Questions can wait, drink. I know you're thirsty. It's okay, you won't drain me." She could call on her pureblood abilities if he tried, she thought.

"I.. I-I'm," he stuttered, his gorgeous features suddenly twisting in confusion.

Kara signed then sat as close to him as possible without touching him, leaning her head to the right and leaving even more of the left side of her neck exposed to him. "Just drink," she coaxed.

The confusion in his features drained away as the bloodlust took over and his eyes burned into hers. He bent over her neck and bit down hard. Kara winced and blinked away the sudden tears of pain and surprise. She'd never had her blood drunk before and she didn't expect it to be quite so painful. They'd always used needles and syringes when they extracted her blood before. He bit down again, harder this time. She shuddered and blinked away fresh tears of sympathy. How long had he gone without blood? Judging from the smell of his clothes and the desperate draining of her blood, it must have been at least a week, maybe two. She couldn't comprehend that. Purebloods were never left wanting and all her little cravings were satisfied within minutes. She couldn't imagine holding off the bloodlust for that long. What's more, he was a level-E…

Her eyes closed and her shoulders slumped. He was really taking a lot of blood. Thankfully, he noticed. He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed away from her. He wiped off the little bit of blood he'd spilled and gently pressed his fingers to the small puncture wounds on her neck to stem the bleeding. She kept her eyes closed until she was sure she could open them without her mind spinning too fast. When she finally did open them, she noticed his eyes were still bright red.

"I'm sorry," she said, still blinking to clear her head. "I don't think I can give you any more blood right now."

He moved away from her abruptly, taking his fingers from her neck. "You're apologizing for that?"

"Yes, you need more blood," she said frankly.

"You've just given me something I needed. Don't apologize for that," he said. He looked like he couldn't decide if he was angry, grateful or frustrated by her apparent stupidity.

"Okay," she said. She stood up carefully, leaning against the wall of the cave for support. "However, that doesn't change the situation. You need blood, food, a place to stay, and all the help you can get."

"And?" he said, quirking an eyebrow. He raised a knee and draped his arm over it. He painted the perfect picture – depressed, frustrated, trapped.

"I'm offering you all of that," she said.

"You don't even know who I am," he said, looking down.

Kara sighed. "I'm offering you everything I mentioned not too long ago. So, it's a comfy bed, blood, food and help or the cave. Personally, I'd prefer the bed to this." She tapped her foot on the floor of the cave.

He looked up, confused. She sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you. Come on," she said, holding her hand out. He stared at her hand for a moment then grabbed it and pulled himself off the floor. _That's more like it_, she thought to herself.

She grabbed her torch and walked backwards to the entrance of the cave."You still haven't told me who you are, you know."

A small smile seemed to play at the corners of his eyes. "I'm Zero. Zero Kiryuu."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2! Thanks a lot to anyone reading this. Please do leave a review. This started out as a writing exercise so I'd really love to know your thoughts!

Much love and many thanks,

Ally

Zero blinked hard and raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. He scowled at the girl already dancing along the path before him. She strolled around in the early morning sun as though she'd done it all her life. _Well, she had, _he mused to himself. _She was a human. There wasn't any reason for her not to be accustomed to the sun._

A weak, fluttering breeze blew her scent softly into his face. She had an unnaturally pleasant scent for a human; sweet, but spicy… like vanilla or fennel.. or both. His fangs lengthened as the sharper, harsher scent of her blood reached him. He groaned mentally at the fact that he hadn't dared to press hard enough to stem the bleeding from the small punctures he'd created in the light brown skin of her neck. He was stupid to have gone so long without blood. Now he had to take every precaution not to drain his strange savior of her sweet, delicious, spicy… _No, _he thought. _You aren't a monster._

Kara led the way down the trail, fighting to keep her feet steady. She was a little faint from the blood loss and she struggled to keep her mind focused, clear and prepared. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the strange person behind her. She wasn't afraid of him. She knew he was too weak to do much more than tag along. It was strange that he managed to keep his bloodlust under such strict control. By all appearances, he seemed to be a freshly turned Level-D vampire. He seemed to have been changed against his will, since he'd gone without blood for so long. He was an enigma. _But questions can come later_, she reminded herself. She mentally shook herself and brought her mind sharply to the present. She deliberately kept her walk nonchalant. She wasn't sure what he was and she wasn't about to let him know what she was capable of.

When they reached the treeless exposure of the parking lot, Kara swiftly unlocked her car and jumped into the driver's seat. The heat was starting to get to her and she was thankful for the slight tint on her Mini Cooper S. Zero sat in the back seat and closed his eyes. Her scent was stronger here. He bit down on his lip. Just hard enough to draw his thoughts away from the girl fiddling with the air conditioning in the front seat but now quite hard enough to draw blood. He'd had more than enough embarrassment for one day – drinking from some stranger then allowing her to take him to her car? That was uncharacteristically naive. He hadn't even said thank you, but he didn't quite know how to start.

Kara was on the highway before she decided to try to break the silence. "So… where are you from?" she asked quietly. She wasn't really expecting an answer and she wasn't all that surprised that she didn't get one.

She glanced in the rearview mirror and found the young man resting his head against the window. His eyes were closed over his blood-red irises. He really wasn't a man yet, Kara decided. Even when he was apparently sleeping, he couldn't seem to lose that frown that creased his forehead. It made him look light years older. Without it, Kara supposed he must be about her age – 17. He looked sad, hauntingly sad in a way that was too close to her own for comfort.

Zero had ignored her question, he knew he was being discourteous, for the lack of a better word, but he was too disgusted with himself to reply. He'd run away. He'd left, damn it! He'd left to leave behind everything that was holding him down. He wanted to smash something, to break something into a million tiny pieces. Nothing should be keeping him prisoner, especially not this disgusting existence. This disgusting bloodlust. He should be empty… So empty… _NO! _Zero thought to himself. _No, you're not going to sink into that again._

He shut himself down, closing his thoughts. He welcomed the emptiness of non-emotion that had become his daily ritual. From the moment he escaped his nightmarish sleep and stepped into the hell of active thought to the moment he rejoined it, he focused sharply on nothing but emptiness. Nothingness…

**Zero stepped away from Ichiru's cooling body. He felt strangely complete in the loss of this twin. He was sickened to his stomach by everything he'd done. No matter what he tried, it seemed like he was destined to lose everything he held dear. First, Yuuki. Now, Ichiru. Ichiru… He had drained his brother's blood. He had actually enjoyed the feeling of it as it quenched his thirst. His heart had stuttered and his veins had practically jumped out of his skin with the strange feeling of satisfaction and power, fresh awareness and strength. He was disgusted, horrified. Sickened with himself…**

"Are you okay?" Kara was gently tapping his shoulder. They'd stopped in the driveway of a fairly large semi-detached house. Zero nodded and shrugged off her hand. Kara frowned at him but crawled out of the back seat and shut the door behind her. She kicked off her shoes and unlocked the door. Zero followed suit and stepped into the house right behind her.

"Mum?" Kara called as she hung her key up.

"Hey, come into the kitchen," Mrs. Khalid replied.

"Come on," Kara said, leading the way.

Mrs. Khalid's eyes turned into dinner-plate-sized spheres when she looked up from her coffee and her morning paper.

"Umm, this is Zero Kiryuu," said Kara. "He'll be staying with me for a while."

Mrs. Khalid's eyebrows simply shot up further.

"Umm… okaaaay, Zero, why don't you come with me?" Kara continued. "I'll show you where you'll be sleeping."

She looked up into his eyes and almost shivered as she found the same emptiness she'd seen in the car. She touched his arm softly and led him up the stairs. She opened the first door to her left.

"This is where you'll be sleeping," she said. "There are towels in the bottom drawer in the cupboard over there. This switch is for the heater, this one's for the light and that's the ceiling fan. The remote for the air cond is on the bedside table. I've got some clothes you'll fit into – mostly pyjamas though. That'll have to do until we can go get you some more clothes."

Zero simply stared at her, still tongue-tied. He pulled off his shirt, grabbed two towels and flicked the heater on before stepping into the bathroom.

"Okay, I'll leave the clothes on the bed," Kara said just before he locked the door. She closed the bedroom door behind her and sighed. She crossed the hall to her bedroom and began poking through her clothes drawers for something big enough to fit Zero's 6' frame.

A soft knock came from the door and Mrs. Khalid stepped in. Kara ignored her stares and continued sifting through her abnormally large collection of men's pyjamas (she just found them more comfortable).

"Do I really have to ask?" said Mrs. Khalid as she leaned against the wall next to Kara's bathroom door. She switched fluently to Malay. "What happened?"

"I found the ghost," Kara replied flatly, switching languages as well.

Mrs. Khalid shot her a look that plainly said "and?".

"His name is Zero Kiryuu," Kara continued, keeping her eyes on the clothes she was still rummaging through. "I don't know where he comes from. He doesn't seem to be from around here, but he's got a pretty unaccented American accent. He smells… strange… a little bit like a pureblood but more like a human or a newborn. I don't know anything else – he just looked like he could use some help."

"And you saw fit to let him have your blood?"

"He needed it, you saw his eyes," Kara replied. "He stopped before I lost too much though, which was good. I didn't want to have to stop him, he needs more."

Mrs. Khalid sighed. "Kara, I know you think he's probably a victim of what your parents were trying to stamp out but-"

"This is my chance to help someone," Kara interrupted. "I know the others are maintaining The System, but this is my contribution. I want to help someone. I want to help him."

"You're only seventeen!"

"But I can help him," Kara replied. "And whatever he is, he isn't a pureblood. I can handle it if it gets difficult. And it's not a question of money or space or anything, he can live here with me."

"Kara-"

"This is the first time that I'm getting to do what purebloods are supposed to do."

Mrs. Khalid sighed again, closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temples. "I suppose there isn't any stopping you, is there?" she asked, switching to English again.

"I need to do something," Kara said gently. "And I think I can help him. I can't explain it, I just think he needs some blood and a bit of sensible thinking and he'll be alright again. I just need to do this one thing."

"You're still bleeding, you know," Mrs. Khalid said. She seemed resigned as she grabbed a wet face towel and the first aid kit from the bathroom.

"I didn't expect it to hurt so much," Kara winced as the cloth slid over the bite marks on her neck.

"Now you know how we humans feel," said Mrs. Khalid wryly. She finished cleaning the wound and doused a piece of cloth in anti-septic and swiped it over the wound. She grabbed Kara's arm as she hissed in pain. "Stay still."

"You just had to use the iodine, didn't you?" Kara said as she caught sight of the yellow stain on her neck in the mirror.

"You're out of Dettol, dear," the older woman replied. "I think you'd better shower before you put any kind of dressing on it."

"Yeah, I'll just pass this to Zero," Kara said. She pulled out a big white shirt and a pair of plaid pyjama pants. "These are the biggest ones."

"I'll drop them in for him," said Mrs. Khalid.

"Okay." Kara picked out a set for herself and stepped into the bathroom.

Zero leaned against the wall and twisted the shower head until the water rained down on this face. He'd finished all the normal routines of soaping the rinsing and now all he wanted to do was savor the shower. He sank to the floor and ran his fingers through his hair. He felt something that wasn't the emptiness he was used to. He supposed it was restfulness. It was the first permanence of any kind that he'd had in three weeks.

He stretched slightly where he sat, trying to get as much relaxation as possible into his tensed muscles. He knew he wouldn't make much progress, but it was worth a shot. He closed his eyes. He was definitely far from happy or joyful but he decided this was about as close as he could get. He really couldn't have got himself into a weirder situation.

He couldn't understand the girl, Kara. She looked nothing like her Mother and smelled nothing like her either. In fact, the whole house only carried a faint trace of her Mother's scent. Kara's scent was all over the place and she smelled wonderful, tempting. Almost as alluring as a pureblood.

Zero shook himself out of his reverie and stood up slowly. He turned off the shower and grabbed one of the towels and dried himself quickly then tied it around his waist. He grabbed the other towel and began toweling his hair.

Mrs. Khalid placed the clothes on the bed in the guest bedroom just as Zero stepped out of the bathroom. "I think you and I need to talk," she said, sitting down next to the clothes.

Zero leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms across his chest. He nodded at her.

"I don't know where you're from or what your story is," Mrs. Khalid said gravely. "I'm not expecting a story straight away. But I know what you are and I want you to know one thing. The only reason why you're not locked up in a cell is because Kara seems to want to help you."

"I know," Zero said.

"And she may not be my real daughter, as you've probably guessed," Mrs. Khalid continued. "But she matters a lot to me."

"I understand," Zero replied. He focused his thoughts solely on the present. His still-crimson eyes stared intently at the floor. "Thank you."

"You should be telling Kara that, dear, not me," said Mrs. Khalid. She stepped outside the room and turned to shut the door behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter :) 3. Sorry for the wait between the Chapter 2 and this one, I was trying to make this one longer, unfortunately, I only managed to expand it by about 1.5 pages :(. To make up for it, I'd like to ask you for your help

I need a character from VK to make an appearance in the next chapter. Although they won't be as big a character as Kara or Zero, they will be a vital link to move the story forward! The only limits are that it can't be a Day Class student, it can't be Kaname or Yuuki and it can't be a side character that doesn't have much of an appearance (ie. The Head of the Board of Hunters or Ichijou's Granddad or the Clerk at the Ice Cream store... you get the gist, right?)

My prime targets at the moment are: Takuma Ichijou, Senri Shiki, Aidou Hanabusa or The Chairman. The character with the highest number of nominations/votes wins! Please only vote once :P.

And something that I've forgotten to do lately -

DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, I do not own Vampire Knight, Zero Kiryuu or anything related to Vampire Knight. If I did, Zero would be... (refrains from making the rating on this fic higher). I do own Kara and Mrs. Khalid, though.

Much love,

Ally

* * *

Kara fumbled with the big pile clothes she held and raised a hand to knock on the guest bedroom door. She hesitated. It was only 10pm: Zero might still be asleep. She should be asleep. She was normally used to getting up at around 6pm but yesterday had tired her out. She would've stayed in bed until 2 but Mrs. Khalid had dropped off the "few sets of clothes for Zero" that Kara had conned her into buying. She neglected to mention that the "few sets of clothes" she'd picked out comprised of 8 button-up shirts, 6 t-shirts and 3 sweaters in various colors, a black leather jacket, a black hoodie, 3 pairs of blue shorts and 6 boxes of 3-in-a-box underwear. As well as a pair of sunglasses, new bottles of soap, shampoo, facial wash, a set of razors for shaving, shaving cream, a hairbrush… Kara groaned just thinking about it. She was glad she was telekinetic. She'd managed to float everything upstairs behind her.

She rubbed her eyes. They were blood red, thirsty and sleepy. She should probably just get a warm blood pack and go back to sleep. She picked up a stool with her free hand and placed it next to the door. She set the clothes down so they wouldn't fall and stacked the toiletries on the floor. She yawned, she could really use the blood pack now. She stretched and turned to head down the stairs.

She heard a soft click behind her and she turned around to find Zero standing in the doorway. He looked adorably sleepy and confused for a few seconds then suddenly he tensed. He gripped the door so hard that it was beginning to crack under his fingers. Kara frowned in confusion.

"Pureblood," Zero growled under his breath. He mentally slapped himself. He should have noticed it before. Her smell should have been a dead giveaway. He'd been so caught up in the damn bloodlust…

"What?" Kara asked, perplexed.

"You're a pureblood," he spat. "You're a vampire."

"Mmhmm," Kara said slowly. What was he talking about? Couldn't he smell her?

Zero slammed the door so hard that it shook itself out of its hinges and fell pathetically to the floor.

"What the hell is going on?" Kara said as she stepped over the door and into the room. She crossed her arms and glared at the young man standing as far away from her as the room would allow.

"Thank you for your generosity," he said coldly. "But I don't need help from _vampires_."

Ouch, Kara thought, wincing. He said the word with such venom. "You are a vampire too, you know."

"Yeah, and I chose to be one of you." Zero retorted sarcastically.

"I was born a vampire. It's not like I chose this either," Kara said. Zero started to speak but Kara cut him off. "Look, I'm not the person who changed you, okay? I don't know what they did to you but I'm not them. So don't take it out on me."

"What makes you any different?" Zero said, glaring at her.

"For one thing, I haven't just ordered you to shut up," Kara shot back. Zero blinked. "Whatever your problem is, I'd appreciate it if you didn't smash my doors."

Kara retraced her route over the door and pulled it up telepathically behind her, resting it against the wall. She was showing off, but she was too vexed to care. "There are some clothes here and some shampoo and things. Come down to the dining room when you're dressed – you need to feed."

Kara pulled two bags from the chiller section of her refrigerator and filled a bowl with hot water from a dispenser. Cold blood was deliciously refreshing but she was angry which made her bloodlust flare up and it was calling for warm, fresh blood. The blood wasn't exactly fresh (it was about a week old) but it was about a month away from its expiry date. She pushed the packs into the hot water and carried the bowl to the dining table. She filled another bowl with cool water and threw in a few ice cubes before fishing a pair of tongs out of a drawer and carrying everything else out to the dining table with her.

She sat down heavily and sighed. What the hell was his problem? Didn't he know she was a pureblood? Couldn't he have smelled her? Why would he have followed her if he hadn't known what she was? She prodded the bags around the bowl with the tongs. She sniffed and angrily swiped away the tears of frustration that were leaking out of her eyes. This was stupid. There wasn't any reason to cry.

Zero stepped quietly down the stairs. He was confused. She was a pureblood, he could smell it everywhere now, but she was helping him. He couldn't understand why she would go to such lengths to help him, not even if she simply wanted someone else to boss around. Zero heard her sniff and paused for a second on the stairs. He felt stupid now. She seemed to only want to help him. He sighed and pressed his fingers to his temples. He just couldn't ever get anything right, could he?

Kara heard him step off the last step glared at the steaming bowl on the table. She lifted the bags out of the hot water and placed them in the bowl filled with ice water. She fished one out and slowly and deliberately bit down on the mouthpiece at one end of the plastic bag. She closed her eyes, calming herself as she sucked for a moment of two. "Drink," she said as her bright red eyes focused on Zero's. "It'll get cold really quickly. We just put it in the ice water to cool the surface."

Zero could smell the blood from the bag Kara was drinking from and his bloodlust flared up again. He picked the remaining bloodpack up and gently, awkwardly put the mouthpiece into his mouth. The plastic tasted slightly strange on his mouth. He had expected worse. It didn't even smell like hot plastic normally did. He bit down and blinked in surprise when warm gushing blood spilled into his mouth. He gulped it down greedily. His bloodlust was finally fully sated.

Kara sighed as she finished drinking. There wasn't much blood in each pack, only about one and a half cups, but it fixed the bloodlust. She looked up to see that Zero was done too. She mutely took the empty pack from Zero's hands, stacked everything up and took it to the kitchen sink. She picked up a sponge and the soap bottle but Zero's hands closed gently over hers.

"Let me," he said quietly. Kara nodded and got rid of the bloodpacks while Zero rinsed and washed the bowls. She blushed furiously. She was supposed to be angry with him. What he's said hurt. She shouldn't be thinking about how nice his voice sounds (she refused to think of the words "beautiful", "husky" or "gorgeous")

"Would you like something to drink?" Kara asked, hiding her face in the mug tree.

"What've you got?" Zero asked. He placed the bowls on the dish dryer.

"Umm, coffee, tea, apple juice, grape juice, milk and Milo," Kara said. _You are angry with him_. She reminded herself.

"Who's Milo?" Zero asked, quirking his eyebrow at her. Kara's jaw dropped.

"You don't know what Milo is?" she asked, her voice was weak from the shock. Malaysian kids were practically raised on Milo.

"Am I supposed to?" Zero asked, frowning.

"Oh," Kara said suddenly. "You're not from around here, right?"

"Nope."

"Canada?"

"Japan."

"Oh!" Kara said, slapping her forehead. "You don't really have an accent but I figured the name was Japanese. You don't look very Japanese though."

"My parents were kind of from all over the place," he replied. No need to let her know they were hunters; that he was a hunter too. Well, not yet, anyway.

"Mm," Kara said, nodding. "Well, Milo is a drink. It's like hot chocolate."

"Oh," said Zero, frowning. There was a trace of a grimace on his face that almost made Kara laugh. "I'll just make myself some coffee."

"Okay," Kara said. She was doing her best not to smile. She had a lot of practice forgetting things and she was never good at keeping grudges, anyway. She busied herself with heating up some milk from the fridge while Zero made himself some seriously thick coffee.

"Come join me when you're done," she said as she made her way to the seat in the bay window. She curled up against the pillows and stared fixatedly at the moon. She didn't want to be angry with Zero. She was helping him. She concentrated on simply breathing in and out. In and out…

"Come sit down," she said when she heard his footsteps on the marble floor of the dining room. He sat facing her and stared at the contents of his cup.

"I judged you too quickly," Zero said after a pause.

"You did," Kara's lips twitched.

Zero glared into the coffee he was swirling. Kara restrained herself from giggling at the sudden impression that he was trying to hypnotize himself.

"Talking helps, you know," Kara said, staring out the window again. A small frown creased her forehead as she fought to keep her face clear of emotion.

"What about?" Zero asked, following her gaze.

"I don't know," Kara said. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen," Zero replied.

"When's your birthday?"

"October the 11th," Zero's eyebrow twitched. This activity was pointless, but it was better than nothing. "When's yours?"

"December the 4th," Kara replied. "What kind of food do you like?"

"Anything's fine with me," Zero said blankly.

"There's got to be something."

"Beef curry."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You like coffee, huh?" Kara pointed at the cup in his hands.

"Black coffee," he replied, nodding. "You?"

"Favorite food or drink?"

"Food."

"Changes all the time," Kara shrugged. "Probably noodle soup right now."

"Really?" Zero asked, raising an eyebrow. The hint of a smile lit the corners of his eyes.

"Yeah," Kara replied. She seemed to be thinking for a moment then excitement lit her eyes. "What's your favorite band?" she asked eagerly.

"I don't really listen to music much," Zero said, indifferently.

Kara's eyes all but popped out of their sockets. Zero raised his eyebrows at her. She pressed her hand to her heart and she was breathing kind of funny. "Are you okay?"

"C-can you play an instrument?" she stuttered. She looked like she was in shock or something.

"No," Zero said slowly. He couldn't understand why she was so worked up about this. There hadn't been that much time for music back at home. Yuuki's never been that interes… The locks around his memories snapped firmly back into place. He hadn't even realized he'd lowered his guards.

"Are you okay?" Kara asked. She'd snapped out of the stupor and she'd watched the play of emotion across his features. His eyes went from almost restfulness to anger and pain then studied emptiness in the space of a few seconds.

"I'm fine," Zero's voice was cold, indifferent. Kara winced. She'd been so sure she was lowering his guards but apparently, she wasn't.

"Zero," Kara said seriously. "What happened to you?"

Zero simply got up and walked to the kitchen. He quickly washed his cup, wiped it and put it back on the mug tree. He walked up the stairs, stepped into his room and pushed his door back into the doorframe.

Kara watched him, silently. She knew she had a right to know what happened to him, but she supposed it would take time. She washed the cups up then sat down in front of the electric piano in the music room. She pushed up the cloth covering the keyboard and turned the volume down. She was used to playing it at full volume but she supposed she shouldn't be bothering Zero.

She sang softly along to the melody as she played. It was one of her favorite songs; sad, but calming. It reminded her of her mother. She missed her. She would've known exactly what to do with Zero. She always knew what to do about everything. Kara loved Mrs. Khalid but she wasn't her mother. Not really. Kara forced herself to think only on the surface of her feelings. To keep her head above the tide of emotions that was threatening to drag her down. She was used to not thinking about her parents but that didn't mean she was impervious to bouts of missing them. She just wasn't good enough. She wasn't good enough to handle Zero. Maybe she'd made a mistake?

_No, _she thought angrily, slamming her fingers into an E chord and trying her best not to break the keys again. She was going to do this. She was going to carry on what her parents had dreamt about. Sure, the infrastructure for their dream was there, what with the blood banks and everything but it was the individual cases that mattered. And she was going to carry on her parents dream. She had to. She was going to. She switched to another song, playing furiously fast. _This was going to work._

Zero stared blankly out the window. He was carefully placing his guards back into place. He was frustrated with himself. All he wanted to do was curl up into a ball and let the memories take over for a little while. He wanted to relive those sickening events. He wanted to see everything all over again. _But that's just stupid_, he thought to himself. _So ridiculously stupid. You're not some love-sick teenage girl. _

He threw himself onto the wrought iron bed and glared at the ceiling. He was running from himself, he knew he was. He pulled gently at a fistful of his hair and closed his eyes. He heard the soft tinkle of a piano coming from somewhere downstairs. The melody was disturbingly haunting. He let it lull him and weave its way through his thoughts. He didn't care where it came from. He sighed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

That was the night that the screaming started.

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If you haven't read the note at the top, please do!  
Oh yeah, please leave a review! 3


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone, sorry I took so long! I've been trying to make my chapters longer, but the longest I've gotten is this one (6 pages... sigh). Anyways, I've already started about 2 pages of Chapter 5, so if I just mayyyybbeeee get enough reviews, I'll post it up within this week! BTW, the winner of the poll is introduced at the bottom.**

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Kara sipped in silence. She took a quick peek at the young man across the table and tried as hard as possible to restrain the shudder she felt running down her spine. It had been three days since their little "confrontation" and Zero had barely spoken to her since. He hadn't even met her eyes when he did. Kara dropped her eyes back to her chicken noodle soup and carried on eating. She tried to remember what their longest conversation had been. _Oh, right, _she'd remembered. It had happened two days ago…

Kara had been absently flipping through the channels on her small, but efficient plasma screen TV. She hadn't been able to do much else after hammering away at the piano for hours. She felt so… tempestuous. She wanted to be angry at Zero but a stronger part of her was demanding that she be patient with him. Whatever had happened to him must have been really hard. Her silent, but hardly peaceful reverie was broken when Zero came down the stairs and leaned against the banister between the dining room and the living room.

"How about I make lunch today?" he'd offered. He somehow managed to make his voice sound cold and indifferent, even while he was making an offer. Kara gripped the arms of her chair but tried not to look too shocked. She _had _heard him coming down the stairs. She just hadn't thought he'd be talking to her again.

"How about we alternate on kitchen duty?" Kara replied, trying to sound as normal as possible. "I'll cook, you clean then you cook, I clean…"

"Okay," he replied, his voice still flat. "I'll take lunch today, then."

"Okay," Kara repeated, keeping her eyes on the TV. She sighed in relief when she heard him poking around the kitchen for the right utensils and ingredients. He'd settled on making a simple, spicy noodle soup. Kara had come in halfway to help but the look on his face had scared her away. She settled for making some lemonade to wash away the spiciness of the noodles and set the table. That cycle had fallen into a routine these past few days with her and Zero trading places every other meal. Kara had to admit, he was a good cook. He was pretty much limited to stir-fry's and basic curries though. Kara's kitchen was outfitted for a pasta girl and she was proud of it.

Kara broke away from her musing and took a gulp of her iced green tea. Zero seemed to enjoy it, or at least he didn't seem to make any odd expressions when she made it. She was glad he hadn't complained about anything but she couldn't quite decide if that was an up-side of the silence or not.

"Umm, Zero?" Kara asked.

Zero looked up at her, frowning. He looked like she'd startled him out of some tumultuous train of thought. In fact, he'd been wrestling with not thinking about Yuuki again.

"Tonight, I'd like to take you to meet some people," Kara said. "I want to show you how we work."

"We?" Zero asked blankly.

"Us vampires," she replied. "The vampires here, as opposed to vampires where you come from."

"Oh," he replied. "Okay."

"Be ready in an hour?" Kara asked. "I'll do the washing up tonight, if you want."

"No, it's okay," he replied, keeping his eyes on his noodles.

"Okay," Kara said. She washed her bowl and chopsticks then ran upstairs to take a shower and change. She dressed quickly in a simple brown sweater and blue jeans and tied her hair back into a pony tail. She could hear Zero in the shower, he was going to take his time. He still had 45 minutes left. Kara reached for her small black cell phone and hit speed dial.

"You've reached the Chicago City Morgue, how can I help you?" said a voice from the other end.

"Very funny, Mel," Kara replied. "Anything new happen?"

"Why don't you tell me?" her best friend replied. "Apparently, you're hiding a very gorgeous someone in that den of yours."

"How did you know he's gorgeous?"

"Your mother said he's hideous," Mel replied. Kara could almost hear her eyes rolling.

"Well, he's alright, I guess," Kara laughed.

"Whoa…. Okay, then he's got to be like a Brad Pitt-Orlando Bloom hybrid on legs."

"Nah, think something like that Cedric guy from Harry-"

"Robert Pattinson," Mel interjected.

"Right," Kara continued. "-meets a bleach blonde Hugh Jackman. Only without the body hair."

"Ooooohhhhh," Mel sighed. Now it was Kara's turn to roll her eyes.

"Stop drooling, Mel, I can hear it dripping," Kara teased.

"Oh, shut up, you're so drooling over him too," Mel retorted.

"Actually I'm not," Kara replied.

"Oooh, what does he smell like?" Mel gushed.

"Mel, do I even have to tell you how gross that is?" Kara was glad that this was just a phone conversation. Her blush would tell Mel everything she needed to know.

"Ooooh, and you have to meet this cousin of mine," Mel went on. "I swear, you'll love him!"

"Mel, I told you, I don't do blind dates."

"Since when have you EVER let me set you up on blind dates?" Mel retorted. "Look, just meet him, he's great!"

"Okay, okay," Kara heard Zero coming up the stairs and lowered her voice. "Hey, I've got to go get ready, I'll see you in about half an hour, okay?"

"Mmkay, babe," Mel replied. "See ya. Oh, and don't forget to bring Hugh-dric."

"Right," Kara rolled her eyes again. "See ya, Mel."

Kara showered quickly and pulled on a gray, elbow-length sweater and a pair of black jeans. She opened the door and smiled before she could stop herself.

"What?" Zero said, rolling up the sleeves of his gray sweater.

"We match," she replied, glancing down at his black jeans then up to his eyes again.

He blinked at her and for a moment, she could almost see a smile in the corners of his eyes, then he was back to business again. "Are we going, or what?"

"Yeah, sure," Kara replied, still smiling slightly to herself. She might just be breaking down the barriers around the Ice King's heart again.

Zero followed her mutely down the stairs and out into the car. He slipped on his seatbelt and returned to doing what he had been doing for the past 3 days. He stared blankly into space, determined to think about anything except what he really wanted to think about. He watched as the driveway slid out of view and closed his eyes to the flashing road around him. He sighed and focused on being blank, being empty and being utterly alone. Feeling like he had company only made him think…

_Zero pocketed the Bloody Rose gun and made his way to ground level, looking for the object of his worry. There she was, Yuuki was on top of the roof of the main building. She appeared to be fending off the other vampire's attacks relatively well, but the bursts of energy from her minute form were significantly weaker and more erratic compared to the tall, hulking figure of the other pureblood. Where the hell was that idiot Kaname?_

_Zero ran towards and building, power building in his muscles. He jumped onto the wall and used his built up momentum to scale it. The stone and glass parted easily under the tips of his fingers. He grinned, despite his worry and anger. He felt _alive_. He vaulted himself over the edge of the roof and tensed into a crouch._

"_Ah, Kiryuu-kun," a voice said. "We were just talking about you."_

_The dark haired vampire sent another blast of energy at Yuuki, pushing her onto her knees. A low growl escaped Zero's lips._

"_Now, now, Kiryuu-kun," he continued. "I was just convincing my niece here that she deserves to marry me."_

"_Leave her alone," Zero snarled._

"_I'm terribly sorry," he fluttered his fingers and a pair of heavy boulders began revolving violently faster and faster in the air above Yuuki's head. "I just can't do that."_

_He flicked his fingers in Zero's directly and the stones shot in his direction. Zero dodged them, trying to get as close to Yuuki as possible in one leap. He got halfway there. "Who the hell are you?" Zero asked._

"_Oh, forgive me," the pureblood bowed, his voice almost dripping with cynicism. "I seem to have forgotten my manners. I'm Rido Kuran."_

"_All you vampires," Zero muttered under his breath. "Incest, politics, murder… what next?"_

"_Did you say something, Kiryuu-kun?" Rido asked "politely". He sent another pair of boulders spinning in Zero's direction. "Isn't it a pity that you don't have your dear Kaname-sempai to help you?" He gestured to the opposite building. Kaname looked furious. His normally chocolate eyes were burning a deep, bloodthirsty red and he was thrashing against invisible barriers that seemed to be cutting into his skin. Zero knew the feeling, it had been horrible to fight against the need to obey the Wildly Blooming Princess. She had been both a pureblood and his master. He almost felt a twinge of sympathy for his senior. _

"_Zero, look out!" Yuuki screamed._

_Zero dodged another set of boulders and landed in front of Yuuki. He jumped at Rido, drawing the gun. Rido batter it away with one hand and closed the other around Zero's throat. "No, no, Kiryuu-kun," he said, leaning in to Zero's face. "That's no way to play nice."_

"Zero?" Kara asked quietly, breaking into his reverie.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to go to a picnic the day after tomorrow?"

"A picnic?"

"Yeah, there's this park that's beautiful in the day time. There's lots of shade and my friend Mel said she'd like to show her cousin around. I'm sure it'll be fun. Would you like to come?"

"Sure." Anything to take his mind off what happened that night.

"How about we make lunch together? We can go shopping for things tomorrow evening. We'll have to wake up earlier though," he heard the little strain of effort behind her voice. She was trying to make him happy. He felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach. He should be trying to make her happy. She hadn't kicked him out of her house, let alone asked him anything about why he'd appeared out of nowhere, bloody, tattered and silent.

"Sure," he said. Kara could hear the cold edge returning to his voice. She sighed internally, she'll make some headway eventually.

"And… we're here," she said as she pulled into a parking space. She stepped out of the car in front of an old, derelict shoplot, covered with overgrown plants and mould. It looked downright post-apocalyptic next to its posh and trendy neighbors. "It doesn't look like much, but it's meant to be that way."

She stepped out of the car and walked up to a metal grille that partially obscured a flight of stairs leading to the second floor of the shop lot. Zero watched as she ran her finger along the top of the grille before she leaned into the handle and whispered "Kara Rai". Zero raised his eyebrows at her as she pushed it open without a squeak and started climbing the stairs.

"Fingerprint, voice and iris recognition," Kara explained. "It's not as dingy as it looks."

Zero nodded, impressed though he didn't show it. Kara stepped onto a welcome mat at the head of the stairs and was immediately engulfed in a mass of curly blonde hair.

"Kara!" Mel squealed.

"Mel, I may be a vampire but I do need to breathe," Kara gasped.

"Oh, right, right, right," Mel stepped away and turned her attention to the young man standing behind Kara. "Oooooh, so this is the specimen. Sedap pun, nampaknya!"

"Hardy har har, Mel," Kara rolled her eyes. "This is Zero Kiryuu."

"Hi Zero," Mel grinned. You could almost see the emoticon over her head. "We're going to get along _so_ well." She waggled her eyebrows at him, but he didn't seem to respond. He was frozen, his eyes wide, and almost… furious.

"Zero?" Kara asked. She could feel Mel's hands on her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" Mel asked.

"Mel-chan!" A voice drawled from somewhere along the well-lit corridor visible through the door. "How could you leave me there all alone? As your cousin, I…"

A blonde, blue-eyed vampire came to a stop in the doorway.

"Kiryuu?" he asked, his eyes flitting from casual arrogance to outright shock.

Zero wanted to run, he wanted to hide, he wanted to burst into a million tiny fragments and be burnt to cinders then left to blow away in a strange, unnatural breeze.

"Kiryuu," Aidou Hanabusa's eyes glowed a brilliant red.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This one's extra long, just for you! I plan on making this story 25 Chapters, max. So this marks the first 5th. Hope you enjoy it! And leave a review-cookie, please!

"You know each other?" Mel said, clearly disappointed that she hadn't got a chance to show him off to her cousin.

"We thought you were dead," Aidou continued, still staring at Zero.

Kara frowned at Zero's expression. His jaw and his fists were clenched tight, his eyes burning with some strange emotion she hadn't seen him wear before and his cheeks were unnaturally… pinkish. _Was he blushing? _

Kara caught herself before that thought made it to her face. "Are you okay, Zero?"

"You let Yuuki-sama think you were dead," Aidou said, abruptly cold. "You caused Kaname-sama much discomfort because of her distress."

"Kaname Kuran?" Kara asked, raising an eyebrow. What did the Japanese purebloods have to do with this? Wait, the _Japanese _purebloods - of course! Why hadn't she-

"Aidou, what are you doing?" Mel asked suddenly. Her feet were frozen to the floor. Looking down, Kara found that the ice had caught both Zero and herself as well. "Hanabusa, stop it!"

"You should be killed for causing them so much pain," Aidou growled. "Yuuki-sama, even your father, the Chairman. You left her lying there!"

Kara struggled against the ice slightly then glanced over at Zero. The ice was steadily advancing up his legs but he didn't even flinch. He looked strangely peaceful, almost like he was welcoming whatever the other vampire planned for his pain.

"Stop it," Kara said, slipping into her Voice. She barely spoke over a whisper but the ice steadily receded and only a small pool remained around Aidou's feet. Mel shook out her clothing and crossed her arms to glare at her cousin.

"You just had to go and make her mad, didn't you?" Mel said.

"Reign in your emotions and take proper control of your ability, HanabusaAidou," Kara commanded, still reaching into the deeper timbre of her Voice. "This is still my country and I would prefer it if you didn't bother my guest."

The ice disappeared completely but Aidou's eyes were still burning with rage. Zero was completely blank. He somehow managed to look both apathetic and disappointed at the same time. He looked like he was trying very hard not to think about something, which didn't really look very different from how he had looked for the past 3 days so Kara wasn't particularly bothered.

"I don't know what it is he's done, and I don't know what you've done," Kara glared at Aidou. "I'm going to talk to Aidou and Mel is going to talk to Zero."

She turned to Zero. "I'm sorry, Zero. I was planning to wait until you were ready to talk of your own volition. But I think I deserve an explanation."

Kara led the way into the gray-carpeted corridor, ignoring the stares of the other vampires who had stopped in their tracks to stare at the strange procession. Aidou followed her into a small room and she watched Mel and Zero enter the room next to them before she closed the door.

Aidou sat on the small desk at the far end of the room and crossed his legs. He looked the picture of furious arrogance. Kara couldn't help but stare for half a second before she spoke.

"So, what's the deal with you and Zero?" She asked, too annoyed to beat around the bush.

"Hasn't he told you?" the young noble shot back.

"For someone who supposedly knows him, you should know better than that," Kara retorted. "What happened?"

"He ran away," Aidou said, flatly.

"Ran away? That's it?" Kara straddled the chair at the opposite end of the table and folded her arms over the top.

"Well, it would have been "that's it" but it's not," Aidou crossed his arms. "He ran away at the worst possible time. He just shot RidoKuran and-"

"RidoKuran? Isn't he already dead?" Kara interrupted.

Aidou stretched. "Why do you want to hear about _him_? Kiryuu's boring," he yawned. Abruptly he leaned across the table, his nose inches from Kara's. "Don't you want to hear about me?" he whispered, batting his eyelashes seductively.

"No," Kara said flatly, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, fine," Aidou pouted, muttering something about an "Idol-sempai". "What do you want to know?"

­

Mel stared intently at Zero, trying to figure him out. He was gorgeous, of course, but she was trying to read his expression. She wasn't used to having to read people without using her ability, but she didn't know if Zero would notice her looking into his aura or not. Of course, she could just ask him but he hadn't said anything for the past 15 minutes, despite all the questions she'd asked.

She gave a small mental sigh then closed her eyes. She hadn't ever been a particularly patient person. She sank into her ability, opened her eyes and almost gasped out loud at the torrent of colors surrounding Zero. His own pale lavender aura was tainted with black, red and dark blue streaks.

She focused in on the blue streaks and was his by a wave of extreme sadness, she bit her lip, glad that Zero was staring out the window into the darkness.She drew a deep breath and tried turning her attention to the black streaks and immediately left it. There was intense fear and guilt, wrapped up in a thick veil of denial. She concentrated on the red streaks and almost jumped out of her chair. He was so _angry_. But it was internal anger, anger at himself, not at anyone else. In the midst of the tangle she spotted a small sliver of something brown. It was remorse and… love? No, it was a small seed of love. It was care. There was something he cared about.

Mel sighed and closed her eyes, turning down her ability. She felt sorry for him and for Kara. Kara was determined to look after him, her aura had said that much. Kara's honey-colored aura had the same little bit of brown, except hers was much lighter, entwined with something light green. It felt like she didn't feel any remorse, but that her care and dedication also had an ulterior motive. Mel would have to ask her about it later.

Whatever way she looked at it though, Mel couldn't help but be just a little bit happy. This seemed to be rock bottom for the both of them, emotionally. The only way to go was up.

Zero's mind was buzzing. Aidou's words had joined the other voices, images and sounds – the mental screaming - that were trying to break his calm façade.

"_You left her lying there!"_

The words ripped at his chest. They weren't exactly true, he had left her with Kaname…

"**Now, now, Kiryuu-kun," Rido said, his face inches away from Zero's. "That's no way to play nice." **

**Zero punched as hard as possible into Rido's ribs, hoping to smash his heart, if possible. Rido doubled over, clutching at his broken ribs. Zero kicked his feet out from under him and reached for the Bloody Rose. He grabbed it and raced to the other end of the roof, praying that Rido would follow him. The farther away from Yuuki, the better. **

**There were tiny popping sounds and he turned around to find Rido standing up. His legs had healed themselves and all that was left of his broken ribs were a few pale purple bruises, barely visible under his half-open shirt.**

"**I'm done playing games, Kiryuu-kun," Rido snarled, cracking his knuckles. "How does it feel knowing that when I drain you of your blood, I'll be able to taste exactly how scared you are when you know you're doing to **_**die**_**." **

**The last word blended into a growl as Rido jumped at him. Time seemed to slow down as Zero focused in on his anger and his fury, allowing it to fill his veins as he jumped and shoved the Bloody Rose upwards. **

**Rido choked. The gun and pierced its way through his his ribs, into his chest, its barrel trained directly over his heart. "Bastard," he whispered into Zero's ear.**

**Zero fired as he heard Yuuki scream. Everything was suddenly a blinding, intense white. His feet left the ground and he was flying – no, being thrown. He felt himself land on something softer than the stone in the courtyard. A fine rain of dust seemed to be filling the air around him and he coughed. He opened his eyes. **

**The blast had thrown him off the roof and into the gardens behind the main building of the school. He wanted to lie there, to rest his suddenly protesting bones but he had to find Yuuki, to make sure she was okay. Nothing else mattered. He grabbed a nearby branch and pulled himself up. It felt wet. In fact, **_**he **_**felt wet. He looked down and his arms and his once-white shirt was covered with a dark red liquid that smelt suspiciously like blood. Both human, and something that smelt like cloves and cedarwood… utterly delicious… and pureblood. Zero grimaced, fighting back the urge to throw up.**

**He froze. It shouldn't smell this good. Heck, it shouldn't even smell at all. Ichiru's blood and the Hunter essence it contained should've wiped out all traces of his vampire half, shouldn't it? He shook his head, maybe he was just sensitive to blood and smell. He couldn't remember if he had been before he became a vampire, but he would deal with this later. He could always asked the Chairman. After he made sure nothing bad had happened to Yuuki.**

**He ran around the main building and found her with Kaname. He was holding her to his chest and he was… sobbing. He kept murmuring her name, his fingers tangled in her dark hair. He was… apologizing to her? It was then that Zero noticed that her arms were hanging slightly off centre… and so were her legs… and her neck… **

**Zero sank to his knees, still out of view of the vampires standing around Kaname. He had killed Rido, but he had killed Yuuki too… That explosion was because of his powers… The horrible reality sank into him and he stood up slowly, gripping the stone wall for support. He had killed the most important thing in the world and the last person she should be with was cradling her in his arms. **

**He was all at once disgusted, guilt-ridden and furious with the thought. His feet carried him to the edge of Cross Academy's grounds and he vaulted over the fence. He couldn't face them – Kaname, Chairman Cross, Sayori Wakaba… they would hate him for this. The best thing to do would be to disappear, to run away. **

**From that point on, Zero stopped thinking. He left everything behind him and let his feet carry him wherever they may.**

Kara pressed her fingers to her temples. "Okay, let me get this straight. Shizuka Hiou was killed by Kaname Kuran - who was actually awakened by Rido so he can't kill him. And Shizuka killed Zero's family except his younger brother who she shared a blood bond with but she never drank his blood and Zero himself who she turned into a Level-D. Yuuki Kuran, who was reportedly dead, was actually alive, under the care of Chairman Cross who looked after her after Juuri Kuran locked away her human side. Is that right?"

"Good job, Kara-chan," Aidou grinned clapping.

"I'm not a dog, you know," Kara raised an eyebrow.

"No, you're just smitten by my looks," Aidou smiled and twirled a lock of his hair around his pinkie.

"Just get on with it, please," Kara closed her eyes.

"Okay, okay," Aidou squirmed uncomfortably, apparently "he didn't want to talk about boring Level-Ds". "So anyway, Rido was up on the roof while Zero was locked away by the Chairman and his Hunter pal from the Hunter's Association, Touga Yagari-"

"Wait, hunters?" Kara's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "You guys still have Hunters?"

"Duh," Aidou said, making Mel's signature bimbo-hand-flip. "Don't you?"

"No, not unless you count the almost-non-existent witchdoctor type."

"Oh," Aidou frowned. "Well, anyway, some time later, Kiryuu's brother tried to kill Rido Kuran and then he wound up getting seriously hurt, but he wasn't dead. So, judging from the blood trail we found, he made his way to Kiryuu's cell and Kiryuu drank his blood-"

"What, why?!" Kara interrupted.

"Well, there's this legend about Hunters being twins-"

"Zero's a hunter?!"

"What did you think his tattoo was?"

"Uhm… just a tattoo? A lot of people have them…"

"It's a Hunter's symbol for a charm to paralyze him should the need arise. He was bound to Yuuki-sama because she was his adoptive sister – eurgh."

"What happened to his-"

"Will you just shut up and let me continue?"

"Fine, fine."

"Okay, so there's this legend about Hunters being twins. They're not supposed to be twins," Aidou paused for dramatic effect. "If they are, their powers are split between the two of them and one will invariably be weaker than the other. They're meant to destroy one another in the womb and only end up with one with the full power. Theirs must've been a freak accident. Anyway, we're guessing that Kiryuu wanted to gain all of the power and he probably couldn't control himself since he was locked up for his bloodlust in the first place so he drank his brother's blood. That made him gain complete power," Aidou tiptoed his fingers across the table and attempted to touch her hand. Kara deftly moved it out of the way.

Aidou grinned sheepishly then continued. "There was a huge fight on the roof because Rido was determined to have Yuuki-sama as his bride because he couldn't have Juuri-sama. She turned him down and that started even more trouble because he started trying to kill her and Kaname-sama couldn't do anything. Kiryuu shows up and him and Rido have a tussle and then apparently, Kiryuu focused all of his power through this Hunter gun called the Bloody Rose and Yuuki tried to tear Rido apart telepathically-"

"Telepathically?" Kara wrinkled her nose. "Didn't she know how much that would hurt?"

"She only just found out an hour before that she was a vampire," Aidou raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah."

"So there was this BIG explosion and Yuuki-sama and Kiryuu were both knocked off the roof. Yuuki-sama had a LOT few broken bones and she was completely unconscious for a few days. It was nothing a little blood couldn't fix though. Rido's body had turned to dust and scattered all over the grounds. Kiryuu was nowhere to be found," Aidou's voice suddenly turned angry and the temperature of the room dropped.

"We looked for him everywhere, but his scent was masked by Rido's remains. We held a funeral for him, remembering him as a hero. There's a monument built in his name on the school grounds."

"Aidou," Kara reminded him. The room warmed up again as he sighed. "What happened to Yuuki?"

"She's fine," Aidou waved absently. "She got married to Kaname-sama a week later and she's been living with him since."

"Wow, they must've kept it seriously under wraps," Kara said. "We normally get reports of all new pureblood marriages."

"It was meant to be secret. Things with the council are kind of patchy at the moment… you understand."

"Yes," Kara replied. She stood up and shook Aidou's hand. "Thanks a lot, Aidou. I've been trying to figure him out for days now."

"Why are you so fascinated with a Level-D like him?" Aidou yawned impressively then brought her hand to his lips. "You have a perfectly gorgeous noble right here." He kissed the back of her hand then kissed her palm. "I understand you have _very_ relaxed rules about purebloods sharing blood around here…"

"Our blood is only given to those who need it," Kara quickly pulled her hand away. He was entertaining, and cute but SO not her type. "I've got to go get Zero, he must've had a rough night."

"Kiryuu, Kiryuu, Kiryuu," Aidou rolled his eyes. "What about me?" he pouted attractively.

"I'll get Mel for you, okay?" Kara slipped out the door as fast as possible. She was a sucker for puppy-dog eyes.

She opened the door into the next room and Mel jumped out of her seat.

"Hey, your cousin needs you," Kara said softly from the doorway. Mel walked out, closing the door behind her.

"He's in so much pain, Kara," Mel held her hand.

"I know," Kara replied. "I have to help him."

"It really won't be easy. His aura is a lot like yours when your parents-"

"I know," Kara cut her off. "I know, that's why I have to help him get over this."

"Kara," Mel sighed. "Look after yourself, okay?"

"I'll be fine," Kara gave Mel her best smile.

"Okay," Mel released her hand.

"Mel-chan!" Aidou called as she opened the door.

Kara slowly pushed open the door to the other room. Zero sat in the chair, staring into the inky black night.

"Zero?" she asked, sitting down on the other chair. "Are you okay?"

He simply looked at her, but he didn't reply. His eyes were dead, his expression blank – which was the same as they had been for the past several days, but they were more intense now. Deeper, somehow. She wanted to help him, to take his pain away. She knew what it was like to lose someone you love but he was being so damn stubborn…

"Zero, talk to me," Kara pleaded, standing and returning his stare. "Don't try to suppress whatever it is you're feeling. Trust me, it doesn't work."

He blinked.

"Zero," Kara said, trying to keep calm. "I've already heard everything from Aidou but I want to know your side of things."

He continued staring at her blankly. He was so _frustrating_! She was doing everything she could to help him and he was just staring at her. She wanted to hit something, but that wouldn't be productive. Damn it, why was he so stubborn?!

She threw her arms around him and blinked back frustrated tears. "Damn it, Zero, I'm trying to help you," she mumbled into his shoulder. She felt him stiffen under her arms and she stepped away. He was still staring silently at her, but his eyes seemed softer somehow.

"Let's go home, okay?" Kara smiled at him, taking his hand and leading him out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, everyone but here it is, Chpt 6!**

* * *

Zero stumbled out of the car, barely noticing Kara repeating his actions, but with the grace of the not-depressed. He didn't know how he got through the front door or up the stairs but the next thing he knew, he was in his room. He stepped into the shower, not bothering to close the door or turn on the heater, let alone to take off his clothes. What did any of that matter? He was a failure. He turned on the shower and sank to the floor. Yuuki wasn't dead, she probably hated him and she was with _him_. Nothing else mattered anymore.

Kara shrugged into the warm water of the tub, making sure to keep her hair out of the water's reach. She rarely ever used the tub, except when she felt she'd done something to deserve it. Otherwise, she figured it was a waste of water.

Tonight, she was decidedly happy that she had a better understanding of what was going on in Zero's head. Or at least, that's what she kept telling herself. She knew a few things still bothered her though. First of all, Zero was a Hunter. It didn't really bother her that he was, only that she didn't know if it should bother her or not. Second, she didn't know how much headway she could make into making him more sociable. Third, she wanted to know what he felt for Yuuki Kuran.

If Kara was being honest with herself, it was Yuuki Kuran who bothered her the most. What was she to Zero? From what she understood of Aidou's explanation, she was his foster sister, in a way. Did he feel more for her? Either way, it must've taken a lot to make Zero leave so suddenly, abandoning everything. But if you really thought about it, he didn't exactly have much to go back to.

Kara shook herself out of that confusing train of thought then sighed in frustration. What did it matter to her anyway? She was just here to help Zero. It didn't matter who Yuuki Kuran was to him. Even if they were in love, it shouldn't make a difference to her. Kara sank into the water to hide her blush. Who was she kidding? She knew she was at least _attracted_ to him. She refused to think she _liked_ him romantically. That would be too weird. Actually, she wondered what he was up to right now…

She sighed and rubbed small circles on her temples. Okay, she would get out of here, get dressed for bed, get a bloodpack and take a little peek into his room to check on him before she went to bed. _Just a little peek,_ she reminded herself. _Just to check on him_. She pulled on an old baggy t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She was brushing her hair when she noticed the noise.

She frowned and peeked out of her bedroom door. It sounded like Zero's shower was still on. That didn't make sense. The last she'd seen of him was when he had disappeared into his room right after coming home. She distinctly remembered hearing the sound of his shower turning on right after that. It didn't make sense for someone to have two showers in the same night and Kara was getting sleepy. It was almost 6 in the morning. She needed to get a blood pack soon, too. Her eyes were starting to glow slowly redder.

"Zero?" she yawned, rubbing eyes as she pushed his door open. "You still awake?"

The room was empty except for the noise of the shower, which had grown considerably louder. Kara turned into the en suite bathroom and froze in the doorway.

Zero sat on the floor, against the wall, motionless as a statue, staring up at her through the ice-cold water. The bathroom was freezing cold and his lips were starting to turn a very faint blue around the edges, as if he'd been swimming on a rainy day for a long time. His gray sweater and black jeans clung to his body, hugging every plane. The little droplets of water slipped down his hair and onto his neck, making little streams and rivers across his black tattoo.

"Uhm," Kara tried to break away from her ogling. "Are you okay?"

He just continued to stare at her, his eyes were a faint red. He needed blood soon, too.

"I don't think it's possible to drown yourself in a shower, you know," Kara leaned against the doorframe.

He ignored her.

"You're going to get a cold," she mumbled as she pulled a towel from the bathroom drawer and turned off the shower.

Zero frowned at her, but didn't protest. He watched as she knelt to hold his hand and pull him to his feet. His brain wasn't fully registering what she was doing; he was too busy being caught up in the memories he was running from. He barely noticed when she threw a towel over him and started patting him dry. He tried to look into her eyes, to see what she was thinking, but she kept them carefully away from his face. She threw the now soaked towel into the hamper and abruptly blushed bright red. His throat tightened as his bloodlust flared up.

She slowly moved forward and lifted the hem of his gray sweater from his ice-cold skin, her eyes glued to her hands. His hands suddenly found hers and she immediately dropped the soaking cloth. He pulled it off then frowned at her again. What good would undressing him do?

He watched her get another towel and throw it over his shoulders then immediately pull a much bigger one from the drawer. Her blush deepened as she held it out to him.

"Umm, Zero?" she bit her lip. "I think I'm going to need you to take your pants off."

That snapped him out of it.

"I'll get dressed," his voice sounded hoarse and cold, even to his own ears.

"Um, right," Kara was red as a tomato, her voice strangely high-pitched. She rushed through the door. "I'll let you get to it then!"

Kara ran out of the bathroom and all the way to her bedroom. She fell onto the bed and buried her face in her pillow, trying not to scream, hyperventilate, pass out or all of the above. She hadn't thought she'd have to ask a guy to do that until… well, ever. She got a cool cloth from the bathroom and threw it onto her face, concentrating on breathing slowly. She had to get a hold of her heart. She couldn't let it get caught up in a boy _again_. Not after what had happened the last time.

After a couple of minutes, she'd decided she should probably check on Zero. His lips had still been kind of blue when she left. She took a deep breath. _Act normal_, she told herself. She walked over to his room and peeked through the door. He was already lying on his bed, his arm over his eyes. He had changed into a pair of black pyjama slacks and a dark blue v-neck sweater.

"Hey," Kara said softly. He looked up at her and she defiantly fought her weakening knees. His red eyes and stern features were such a contrast to his adorably messy hair. Altogether, it was absolutely gorgeous. "Your hair's still wet."

He sat up and took the towel she held out to him. He started toweling his hair, covering his whole head with the towel, but his hands were moving too slowly to make much of a difference. Kara wanted to offer to help him, but her words stuck in her throat. She shook herself out of her silliness, since when had she been so pathetic? She touched his hands and he slowly dropped them, she took over toweling his hair, trying to avoid what felt like his face.

"There," she said, plastering on a smile as she pulled the towel off him. It turned into a genuine one when she saw how he looked. His downy soft, silvery blonde hair fell in small fluffy cascades all around his head. She almost giggled. He looked like a baby chicken. If it weren't for his glowing red eyes, he would've looked like a supermodel. She smoothed the silky tresses into a more reasonable arrangement.

He suddenly closed his eyes, his features twisting in pain. He grimaced as his breath suddenly turned shallow.

"Zero," Kara grabbed his shoulders. "Are you-"

He suddenly pulled her close, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Kara shivered as she felt his breath on her neck, the soft gasps tickling her skin. Kara tentatively put her arms around his heaving shoulders. He'd been through a lot today, it was only natural if he felt like crying. She ran her fingers through the ends of his hair, patiently pulling out the tangles as his gasps grew more violent.

Suddenly, his lips pressed against the pulse at her neck. It didn't feel like they were pursed into a kiss, but it was enough to shock Kara into immobility. She felt his lips slowly part and she held her breath. Did he feel the same –

She cried out in pain as his teeth sank into her. He suddenly pulled back, gently pushing her away from him. His red eyes were wide. Kara's fangs lengthened as the scent of her own blood reached her nose.

"I'm sorry," Zero whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear. He looked sad and absolutely disgusted at himself. He buried his face in his hands, too distressed to look at her."Kara, I-"

"Don't," Kara tried to smile at him while hiding her fangs, but it turned into a kind of grimace. She almost sighed; what an anti-climax. "I told you when we first met, remember? Don't apologize for needing blood."

"But I-" he looked torn.

"How about you make it up by talking to me?" Kara smiled. "Lets go get ourselves some packs, okay?"

Zero watched as Kara sank her teeth into a warm blood pack, mirroring her actions and watching as her bright red eyes slowly faded into their normal chocolate brown. Watching her made him feel… comfortable. He was growing attached to the routine they'd developed. She looked up at him as she threw hers back into the bowl of warm water in the middle of the table.

"What?" she asked.

Zero raised an eyebrow at her over his pack. He was still having a little trouble with drinking from a plastic bag.

"You're staring at me," a small smile turned up the corners of her lips.

Zero shrugged.

"What, I'm too pretty for you?" Kara said sarcastically.

"I was just thinking," Zero put his pack into the bowl of ice water then picked both bowls up and strode to the kitchen sink.

"Thinking about what?" she followed him, picking the packs out of the bowls and throwing them in the trash. That threw him off a bit. He didn't know what he had been thinking about, but he couldn't tell her it was because he felt comfortable around her. She'd think he was a psycho.

"I don't believe Aidou." It wasn't a complete lie, he had been thinking about it. When he had been on his bed, 20 minutes ago.

"You don't believe… that she's alive?" Kara said softly, drying the bowls he had just washed.

"No," Zero slowly gained confidence in his argument. It was easy to think about it if he thought of it that way: an argument. "I only have his word for it. And I don't have a reason to trust him."

"That's true," Kara conceded. He followed her out of the back door and onto the covered deck in the backyard. "I'm curious…"

Zero simply stared at her, waiting for her to continue. He was only humoring her for politeness' sake. He knew they were treading on dangerous waters.

"Well," Kara sat down on one of the wooden, pillow-covered chairs. A million questions raced through her mind, all of which she wished she could have him answer. But she knew he wasn't ready. Not yet, anyway. "Are you still game for a picnic tomorrow? I wanted to invite Mel and I invited her cousin before I knew it was Aidou but I could call it off, if you want."

"Anything," Zero said flatly, still glad for a way to distract himself - even if it meant being with Hanabusa Aidou for a day.

"Okay…" Kara said slowly. "That doesn't really help, though."

"Anything," Zero repeated.

"Then how about we have a barbecue here?" Kara's eyes brightened. "We could call my mum over and Mel and Aidou could come over, if you want."

Zero simply stared at her.

"Don't you have an opinion?" Kara grumbled.

"It's easier not to have one," Zero answered frankly.

"Fine, then," Kara smirked. "You'll just have to be content with whatever I come up with."

She deliberately pranced her way back into the house and up the stairs, playfully hoping to get him worried. _He needed some kind of emotion_, she decided, _even if it wasn't for anything important_.

When Zero finally made his way back into bed, a funny sinking fell in his stomach. It wasn't big, just a small little tug on his inner sensibilities that he realized was a real playful tug of worry. He knew Kara couldn't possibly cook up a grand ball by tomorrow, but he was also wise enough not to underestimate her. Zero almost smiled. He was starting over. He was putting everything behind him, it didn't matter what Aidou said, that idiot aristocrat was probably just doing it to spite him.

For the first time in a long time, Zero was looking forward to tomorrow.


End file.
